Shooting for group size at night

So I’ve begun load development with a freshly built rifle. Initial load development was done during a cooler/low humidity day. Now I’m wanting to finish the development but conditions have gone to crap with high temps and humidity.

With the crazy mirage I’m considering shooting at night to take advantage of lower temps but not sure it will do much good for controlling humidity at least with a couple hours of dark. (100 yard range)

Has anyone experimented with shooting groups at night? Any suggestions?

 

While mirage can be tough sometimes, it can also be your friend. Simply watching the mirage either through your spotting scope, or rifle scope can tell you a lot about the range conditions, indicating the direction and intensity of wind. Knowing both of those elements are often crucial to shooting good groups.

 

Train like you fight!

 

How is it at first light in the am? If I want to beat mirage and wind, I'm leaving town at 4:45 AM.

 

What, ambush a target, sounds productive, lol

 

Why not shoot at night, varmint hunters do it.
Set up a 12 volt LED lighting system with a deep cycle battery and go for it.
Get a good night zero then check it in daylight and report the change in POI if any, be interesting to see what you come up with.

 

Easier to sneak up on them in the dark.
;-)

 

A friend pf mine held an informal 100 yd group shoot last summer at night. We did a lot of great shooting from dusk up til about 11pm. He used led lights and a deep cycle battery to light the targets.

 

I’ve shot some of my best rimfire groups at night.

 

Is there any other way

 

I do it frequently. Just use a good flashlight propped up to shine on target. Have shot many sessions on the “C” and “D” battery powered flashlight. No need for a high tech lighting system.

 

LOVE load development and shooting at night. It has proven to reduce as many variables as possible.

$10 LED flashlight at 200 yd target, same at 100 yard.

Black and white target will really ‘pop’ visually in this concentrated, monochrome environment.

Try it. I bet you’ll have an enjoyable and productive experience.

 

Id love to shoot at night

 

At Tri-County Gun Club in Sherwood, Oregon we have a group of 35 people that shoot a 600 yard match every Tuesday night. Yes, sometimes conditions are calm, yet other times you cannot see a mirage and end up having to guess. An early morning range session would be my preferred load development time period.

 

We shot a lot at night a gun club in S. Ca., the Barea Gun Club, now closed. They had 50, 100, and 200 yd berms.

Underground electric lines had been run to each set of target berms. A sidewalk was poured about 24" wide and the electric plug was on the back side of the sidewalk so as not to get hit by bullets.

You took out your own ground flood light for your target.

Conditions would usually stabilize after 10pm, after the ground had cooled off.

Shooting partner and I shot a lot of very, very tiny groups on that rifle range.

 

When work is busy and I don’t get done till after dark I shoot a lot at night. I’ve got a magnetic led light with a flexible telescopeing light head that works great.

 

I've done load development from dusk into dark for years.

I set up a million candlepower search light from Northern tool for lighting. The search light sits right next to the bench for 100 yard..... lights the target and the course like daylight.

I initially used an Oehler 35P with their lighting kit for speeds but now use a Labradar. The LR works up through early to mid-dusk but have not tried it with the search light.

Winds often die down to dead calm at dusk and beyond near Lake Superior. I have the luxury of my bench right outside my back door and neighbors that don't mind as long as sessions are reasonable. Rick M.

 

I have shot Airguns at night with good success.

I used my cordless/rechargeable shop light and parked it safely near the target to cast a ton of light on the target. More than enough light for any type of sights.

If you don’t have a rechargeable shop light, get one. It’s useful for many other things and being LED it doesn’t get hot.

David

 

A friend of mine was one of the “warehouse shooters” in Houston. They ALWAYS shot at night!